God Bless the USA

4th Grade State Fair

The kids did such an AMAZING job at their State Fair (which was held on Friday, May 1st).  I can't believe how much time, effort, and creativity goes into this project, which includes projects from Social Studies, Science & Language Arts.  I guess I should also include COOKING because the food was awesome!!!!

Edible ANIMAL CELLS

Every once in awhile, I manage to find a food lesson to incorporate with the material and content we are learning in Science.  We've had Oreos to learn the layers of Earth as well as the Moon's phases and pudding, crushed cookies, and gummy worms to learn about the different horizons of soil.... Now students have had a chance to create an edible ANIMAL CELL with bread, peanut butter, and various toppings!  Here are the different parts they learned about:

The bread/crust - Represents the cell membrane
Peanut Butter - cytoplasm (next year, I'm using jelly as cytoplasm is a jelly-like substance... why I didn't think of that right away, I don't know....:)
Cookie - Nucleus
Sprinkles - chromosomes
Life Savers - vacuoles
Skittles - Mitochondrion

Needless to say, I think this science lesson was a hit!

A Season of Giving

Today was a great day!  As you know, we decided to donate money this year in place of having a gift exchange in 4th grade.  Students came up with SO many ideas on places, organizations, and families to which we could donate the money, but in the end, we chose Sanford Children's and Children's Miracle Network.  Today, two representatives from Children's Miracle Network came to West Lyon for the presentation of the check for $424!!!!  Before receiving the check, they informed us of how this money gets used (to help families w/ sick children pay for equipment, gas for traveling, meals, and even for the equipment used at the hospital).  I am so proud of these kids!!!  Not once did I hear any complaints about not getting a gift or having to bring money to donate.... I think they truly thought donating this money to kids and families in need was more rewarding than receiving another gift!  THANK YOU to everyone who donated!!!!

Picture #1 - Erin Rohrer & Kim Haiar from CMN came to WL to receive our check for $424.
Picture #2 - Student Council Representatives from each 4th grade class presenting the check (Maddie DeJong, Sam Harmon & Rachel Bruggeman)
Picture #3 - Erin & Kim with all the 4th grade students
Picture #4 - Erin & Kim with Keatyn Lorenzen (Keatyn's mom, Heather, hooked us up with these ladies as she volunteers at the CMN Radiothon/Telethon every year)

Camp Foster Fun!

Camp Foster!

What an AWESOME day!  The kids had so much fun on our field trip to Camp Foster on Friday, October 10th!  The weather was a little chilly, but I personally think that's better than it being too hot;)  The kids had a great time riding horse, shooting rifles and bows, climbing the rock wall, and trying not to wake "Petunia" in Conquer the Dragon (obstacle course).  They also thought the campfire songs were a hoot ("What can make a hippopotamus smile?  What can make him walk more than a mile....?"

)

WL Marching Band - "To Catch a Thief!"

We were so fortunate to go out on Friday morning (19th) and watch the high school marching band perform their show, "To Catch a Thief!"  They did an AMAZING job!  I hope some of these 4th graders will consider going out for band next year so someday I can watch them perform as well!